Making Music tells us that Dorset County Council is asking users of its music set service to respond by 30 June to proposals to increase hire charges - dramatically. They have sent the following message:
In principle, increasing charges is necessary - they have been keeping these very low. And music sets are not a statutory duty for any council. Most councils, as you will be well aware, are struggling enough to provide statutory services, never mind additional ones.
So whilst Making Music supports the council making increases and putting the service on a more sustainable level (the alternative, we suspect, being a complete cut), we have expressed the view to them that they should consult more widely and also that they should work with us to find a more long-term solution (which simply raising prices is not).
It would be helpful if as many music groups as possible from Dorset get in touch with the council to tell them how important this service is. The person to contact is: Sharon Kirkpatrick and her email address is: s.d.kirkpatrick@dorsetcc.gov.uk.
Posted: Tue 27th June 2017